Cardinal View: Retracting our endorsement of Ayomi Obuseh for District 8 Alder
Content Warning: This editorial contains mention of sexual assault and violence.
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Content Warning: This editorial contains mention of sexual assault and violence.
Political representation is an important issue in American politics, and how folks are able to access that power is hindered by a gatekeeping system that prevents many people from running for office. The financial burden to run for office in this country prevents adequate representation and agency for impoverished and marginalized communities.
As education costs continue to skyrocket beyond the bounds of traditional inflation, more and more people fall behind and to the wayside, and the cycle of poverty and marginalization expands. The increase in college tuition is sometimes blamed on the usual inflation of U.S. currency, but in reality, tuition has increased at a rate that is twice that of USD inflation, according to Forbes.
Outside of loan options, students typically turn to financial aid and scholarships to finance their education. UW-Madison has multiple “Wisconsin Promises” in place for in-state students that qualify for financial aid, like Bucky’s Tuition Promise Plus, Badger Promise and the Financial Aid Security Track.
On March 1, the University of Wisconsin Faculty Senate passed a resolution urging the UW Foundation to divest from fossil fuel companies. But, before we take a victory lap, let’s flash back and remember that a similar effort failed in 2014 because it was too ‘divisive.’
The Public Safety Review Committee voted to recommend that the City Council not pursue using body cameras for Madison Police officers. The City of Madison had allocated $83,000 for a pilot project that would purchase body cameras, in addition to another $50,000 that would be required to process the footage recorded by the cameras.
As the litigation-filled Trump administration has come to an end, newly elected President Biden has followed through with some of his economic campaign promises. The American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion economic relief bill, passed the Senate narrowly with a vote of 50-49. The bill includes the long-awaited stimulus payments of $1,400.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, let’s look at one of the most absurd American traditions: The first lady.
On Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol in Washington D.C., as Donald Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden was being finalized through the certification of each state’s electoral college votes. The domestic terrorists smashed windows, stole and even killed as lawmakers hung onto their lives precariously until the originally tame response to the rioters shifted to something more assertive. There were white supremacists dressed in vile “camp Auschwitz” garb and carrying Confederate flags. Indeed, this was the first time the flag had breached into the Capitol in the context of insurrection — having previously only been in the Capitol as part of Mississippi’s old state flag that was replaced by a new one in November. Such a feat had not been accomplished even during the Civil War.
Early last week, Alex Lasry, the 33-year-old son of billionaire Wall Street baron and Bucks owner Marc Lasry, announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2022. The seat is currently occupied by gaffe-prone Trump loyalist Ron Johnson, so the Democrats will be gunning hard for it come election season.
Undergraduate Badger, Reem Salah, knows that when she fills out the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau, she will be fulfilling a constitutional obligation; but with that right, she will also be sacrificing a part of her identity, and it’s completely out of her control. Despite the years of implicit bias and microaggressions she has faced growing up in Wisconsin as an Arab American, her culture, her ethnicity, her identity — all of that was completely disregarded, trivialized and instantly erased as she checked “white” on the Census’s race question.
Within the city of Madison, there are a plethora of issues which affect local residents. Oftentimes, though, it’s easy to get caught up in national level issues, leading city politics to take a back seat. As students and residents alike, we bear witness to the impacts of housing policies, policing and drug enforcement, to name just a few issues.
If the last four years of American political theatrics have taught us anything, it is that politicians and their kin are often made out to be celebrities, and their supporters are willing to defend their every move by mudslinging at opponents. The cult-like devotion of Trump supporters is likely to persist long into the future of the Republican party. Anyone remotely critical of their leader is immediately labeled communist or socialist, to the point that these words no longer seem to hold meaning. Ad hominem responses are rife in political discourse on social media, and the most die-hard Trump supporters deal almost exclusively in them. However, this is all well documented. Those on the receiving end of the abuse, however, do not receive nearly as much attention, when they probably should.
Editor’s Note: On March 31, 2021, the Daily Cardinal retracted this endorsement of Ayomi Obuseh for District 8 Alder following the candidate’s discouraging comments on sexual assault. Read the full statement here.
Governor Tony Evers has once again proposed to legalize medicinal and recreational marijuana as part of his 2021-23 Wisconsin state budget. Evers has previously advocated for legalization in his 2019-2021 budget, only to see his plan go up in smoke due to Republicans in the State Legislature.
The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) are seeking to create a $2 million COVID-19 student relief fund despite numerous reminders from University officials that the fund can't legally move forward as proposed.
As March approaches, we have reached the one-year anniversary of a pandemic that has left millions of Americans unemployed, college seniors with one of the worst job markets in modern history and a government who has rolled out negligible financial support for its citizens. And, on top of that, one demographic has been consistently overlooked time and time again: College students.
As the birthplace of Big Tech, the U.S. is a global technological powerhouse. This is further seen in robotic systems and missiles used by the military. With this in mind, I was in shock when I stumbled upon Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ Twitter thread highlighting how outdated the state unemployment system is.
In the wake of a presidency tempered in raw angst, one of which that reveled in partisan divide, it is easy to lose oneself in the comforting reassurances of the next administration. Instead, we must remain vigilant of further demagoguery.
The murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, and the riots and protests that have followed, have forged an essential discussion on police brutality that has been long in the making. In the past, many of us have responded to publicized incidents of police brutality by giving officers the benefit of the doubt because we believe that the other side of the story will justify their actions. We must now reckon, however, that the "other side of the story" does not always absolve police officers' of wrongdoing. For the first time, many of us now stare directly into the eyes of police brutality's harsh existence, the same existence that Black people have known to be true their entire lives.